Posted on No Comments on Ayurveda everyday, all the time ( or Ayur…what? I thought you practiced Chinese medicine?)

Ayurveda everyday, all the time ( or Ayur…what? I thought you practiced Chinese medicine?)

Folks want to know what’s with all this Ayurveda talk?  I thought you did acupressure, jin shin do, Chinese medicine? I find it easy to add in another ‘label’ or ‘model’ to get equally enthusiastic about.  Especially when it’s so functional!  It’s always been really important me to highlight the connections between seemingly unique and separate ancient models of health and healing.  How are things the same is way more fun for me than how are they different.

My own dive into the world of  Ayurveda has changed my life.  It’s given me more beautiful user-friendly tools in my personal survival toolbox.  More awareness of how I feel everyday, with my interactions with food, myself, others, movements that I make, exercise, stagnation, my emotions!  With this plunge I am realizing that these tools are forever because they grow with me and keep me linking to everything that I interact with, even when those interactions change.

This is what is ultimately sustainable about ayurveda.

It has the capacity to evolove and resonate with present culture, in this case:  March 2011 Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Earth.

This intro into the beauty of ayurveda is not all doshic labeling and imported herbs and foods from India.

Especially when Matthew Remski’s talking about Ayurveda.  One of things that was really unique and wonderful when I took the Everyday Nectar Course last year in distance format was the okay-ness with questioning what we were learning and how applicable it is to our daily lives.  This is really important to me when learning anything that has ancient wisdom to offer. I always want to remember: “hey! We live here, now, so how does this work in my life?”

So Matthew’s coming to Montreal on April 3 for one whole week of Ayurveda learning, talk, tea, food and consults!

And I thought it’d be nice to get Matthew’s own words (‘cause he’s so good with the words!) on the sustainability of Ayurveda, it’s longevity and the benefit Montreal yogis  could gain by adding in Ayurveda to their practices.

what is sustainable about Ayurveda?

MR: Ayurveda is a path of relationship. It teaches attunement to your natural balancing strategies, and helps to turn every common interaction (with food, weather, relationship, activity) into a tool in your personal medicine chest.

what is the longevity of taking everyday nectar?

MR:  Over the years I’ve tried to create a learning system that’s self-perpetuating. This makes use of books and other hardcopy resources, but more important are the intuition strategies that I try to communicate — tools that make Ayurvedic discovery natural and ongoing.

what’s the benefit for  Montreal yogis to add Ayurveda knowledge to their practice?

MR: For millennia, the yoga traditions have assumed that the practitioner was employing Ayurveda naturopathy to support her evolutionary arc. What’s lovely about Ayur-language is that it interfaces with general yoga knowledge on the levels of gross and subtle anatomy. It’s the nuts-and-bolts medicine of yoga, and its elegant to learn. Asana teachers especially feel their instructions and interactions bloom once they get a little bit of Ayurveda under their belts…

Whether are a yoga practitioner or you just want to get to know yourself better and better, this particular Ayurveda course is a priceless tool in your personal toolbox. For life.

Still not sure?  Come to a by donation lecture at my second home, [ahimsa yoga] on Sunday April 3 7pm and take part in an interactive dialogue with Matthew to find out how much Ayurveda you instinctually know.  Ask questions, gain insight and drink tea!

One of the kernels I remember from this first course was this idea that it’s easy for Ayurveda to be idealized, so don’t be misled!  I am not saying that Ayurveda is the absolute only way and best way.  It simply has beautiful gifts to offer.  And as we learn them we must consider always how Ayurveda must be practical and in conversation with modern culture.

One week of Everyday Nectar gives us the space to begin this conversation.

Contact me! Nadia, for details & to register.

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Posted on 2 Comments on Keepin’ It Local

Keepin’ It Local

I went to Vermont this past weekend and, as always, had much food and much conversation and much conversation about food. Both of which seem to go hand in hand whenever we get together with our Vermont friends!


The topic came up about ‘buying local’, as this is really BIG in Vermont, everywhere you go there are signs and products encouraging you to support community with local purchasing. Yeah, it is here in Montreal, for sure, we see Quebec Vrai certifying home-grown products as organic, but the collective encouragement is definitely not as in-your-face. Vermont has always been this way in my lifetime of frequent border crossings as former Townshipper. Why? More rural living and agri-culture, giving rise to community that basically needed to support each other to survive,were some reasons that were put out.

And it’s true, I have seen this when I lived in rural Nova Scotia for a while. It was easy to buy local, we went to the market every Saturday and bought everything for our week of eating, veggies, fruits, cheese, butter, meats, tofu, cleaning and body products. ALL made from people who’s farms we had visited! This is a bit harder to do when living in Montreal, but worth the effort for seeing where your ‘organic’ veggies really lived before they habited your fridge. You begin to feel more connected to what you are eating. Really. Well, at least I do, and if you can not remember the last time you felt really connected with everything on your plate, then it’s at least worth a try. Visit your farmer’s markets, join a CSA, visit the farms where your food is grown and processed. If you eat meat, see where and how these animals lived before they were killed, find out how they were killed. Get connected.

We have an array of city markets available now, from the large markets of Jean-Talon and Atwater, to the local marches des quartiers, and some newer local markets, which are more and more bringing in organic and unsprayed non-herbicided, non-pesticided produce. Buying local, healthy products close to wherever you live in the city is easier now than ever.
So head out and don’t forget to get some cash out before you go!

But why buy local and pay with cash? (another great gem from our many Vermont-discussions) Well, apart from building community and making us feel more connected with each other and the earth, it also keeps the goods in your back pocket so to speak. If all of our money, time, effort are going right back into the people in our community, stability is encouraged in our local economic system, which in times of late, seems like a good idea, with words like recession bouncing around. I am certainly no economist, but I have read enough to get the gist and also experienced this reality work!

When we pay with credit and debit cards the person that we are paying for a good or service DOES NOT get all of the money that we are paying them. It is soooo easy to forget this when we are busy collecting airmiles for trips to foreign lands or for movie passes. The credit card company, who certainly is not in need, is getting some of the money that should ALL be going back to the fellow who planted your organic local really yummy cucumbers. Sometimes you can not get around using plastic, but when we buy local it seems like completing the cycle to have all the money go back directly to the source of the product or service. Credit cards and debit are just like drugs, so remember: JUST SAY NO!

And the bonus of this cash friendly action: we are more discerning about what we buy, what we really need.

Because, while, ya it’s great to support the local community, it’s also great to tone down the longtime cultural pattern of just buying way too much stuff!

Another reminder that being more sustainable is all about self vigilance and inquiry. Why do I want this? What purpose does it serve the big big big picture?

I went to Vermont this past weekend and, as always, had much food and much conversation and much conversation about food. Both of which seem to go hand in hand whenever we get together with our Vermont friends!


The topic came up about ‘buying local’, as this is really BIG in Vermont, everywhere you go there are signs and products encouraging you to support community with local purchasing. Yeah, it is here in Montreal, for sure, we see Quebec Vrai certifying home-grown products as organic, but the collective encouragement is definitely not as in-your-face. Vermont has always been this way in my lifetime of frequent border crossings as former Townshipper. Why? More rural living and agri-culture, giving rise to community that basically needed to support each other to survive,were some reasons that were put out.

And it’s true, I have seen this when I lived in rural Nova Scotia for a while. It was easy to buy local, we went to the market every Saturday and bought everything for our week of eating, veggies, fruits, cheese, butter, meats, tofu, cleaning and body products. ALL made from people who’s farms we had visited! This is a bit harder to do when living in Montreal, but worth the effort for seeing where your ‘organic’ veggies really lived before they habited your fridge. You begin to feel more connected to what you are eating. Really. Well, at least I do, and if you can not remember the last time you felt really connected with everything on your plate, then it’s at least worth a try. Visit your farmer’s markets, join a CSA, visit the farms where your food is grown and processed. If you eat meat, see where and how these animals lived before they were killed, find out how they were killed. Get connected.

We have an array of city markets available now, from the large markets of Jean-Talon and Atwater, to the local marches des quartiers, and some newer local markets, which are more and more bringing in organic and unsprayed non-herbicided, non-pesticided produce. Buying local, healthy products close to wherever you live in the city is easier now than ever.
So head out and don’t forget to get some cash out before you go!

But why buy local and pay with cash? (another great gem from our many Vermont-discussions) Well, apart from building community and making us feel more connected with each other and the earth, it also keeps the goods in your back pocket so to speak. If all of our money, time, effort are going right back into the people in our community, stability is encouraged in our local economic system, which in times of late, seems like a good idea, with words like recession bouncing around. I am certainly no economist, but I have read enough to get the gist and also experienced this reality work!

When we pay with credit and debit cards the person that we are paying for a good or service DOES NOT get all of the money that we are paying them. It is soooo easy to forget this when we are busy collecting airmiles for trips to foreign lands or for movie passes. The credit card company, who certainly is not in need, is getting some of the money that should ALL be going back to the fellow who planted your organic local really yummy cucumbers. Sometimes you can not get around using plastic, but when we buy local it seems like completing the cycle to have all the money go back directly to the source of the product or service. Credit cards and debit are just like drugs, so remember: JUST SAY NO!

And the bonus of this cash friendly action: we are more discerning about what we buy, what we really need.

Because, while, ya it’s great to support the local community, it’s also great to tone down the longtime cultural pattern of just buying way too much stuff!

Another reminder that being more sustainable is all about self vigilance and inquiry. Why do I want this? What purpose does it serve the big big big picture?

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Posted on No Comments on Made With Love

Made With Love


There are restaurant lists for “the best vegetarians restaurants in Montreal”, “top 5 vegan places to eat in Montreal”, “best burger”, “best indian” etc……….


What I want to know is: “Where in Montreal is the food that’s Made With Love?”

How do you even determine such a thing?! For me, being a self proclaimed super sensitive foodie, it’s based on how I feel at the end of the meal. Can I feel the love? Being organic, local, vegan, living, raw, are not the most important things for me. I want to feel happy, sated, fulfilled, digestively balanced and energized. As if I had made the meal myself or someone who loves me had made it for me. It is about what kind of energy, thoughts and feelings that were put into the food while it was being harvested, cleaned and transformed into what will eventually become me.

So here they are! Some of the restaurants where I have had the “Made With Love” experience.
It is not always consistent, as we are all human and not machines pumping out the same thing each time! But I have had at least a couple of love-filled meals at each place below.

Where was the last place in Montreal you ate a love-filled meal?

Top 10 Montreal Restaurants Made With Love:
9. Rumi


There are restaurant lists for “the best vegetarians restaurants in Montreal”, “top 5 vegan places to eat in Montreal”, “best burger”, “best indian” etc……….


What I want to know is: “Where in Montreal is the food that’s Made With Love?”

How do you even determine such a thing?! For me, being a self proclaimed super sensitive foodie, it’s based on how I feel at the end of the meal. Can I feel the love? Being organic, local, vegan, living, raw, are not the most important things for me. I want to feel happy, sated, fulfilled, digestively balanced and energized. As if I had made the meal myself or someone who loves me had made it for me. It is about what kind of energy, thoughts and feelings that were put into the food while it was being harvested, cleaned and transformed into what will eventually become me.

So here they are! Some of the restaurants where I have had the “Made With Love” experience.
It is not always consistent, as we are all human and not machines pumping out the same thing each time! But I have had at least a couple of love-filled meals at each place below.

Where was the last place in Montreal you ate a love-filled meal?

Top 10 Montreal Restaurants Made With Love:
9. Rumi

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Posted on No Comments on Oh Dear! Not another "Self-Help Blog"!

Oh Dear! Not another "Self-Help Blog"!


Welcome! and be forewarned for many more exclamation marks to come.
What does this even mean? Sustainable You? It can mean so many things, sustainable is such a trendy hipster phrase these days, which is cool, but really at the root of living sustainably is getting to know yourself (and others and the rest of the natural world), which is also cool. And it’s what I am into.
So here will be many things that I find are sustainable and why. Things that help me to connect and re-connect to my community, the earth, and mostly myself, ’cause it all starts there.

So, yes, in essence another self-help blog. What can I say? and really, what can you expect in 2010, anyway?
Self-help is where it’s at. Help yourself first, get out of your own way and out into your world.

And it’s not all new-agey, green, pseudo eco-chic, locavore, organic goodness by the way. Sometimes all these words are not all they are cracked up to be and we’ll check out why.


Welcome! and be forewarned for many more exclamation marks to come.
What does this even mean? Sustainable You? It can mean so many things, sustainable is such a trendy hipster phrase these days, which is cool, but really at the root of living sustainably is getting to know yourself (and others and the rest of the natural world), which is also cool. And it’s what I am into.
So here will be many things that I find are sustainable and why. Things that help me to connect and re-connect to my community, the earth, and mostly myself, ’cause it all starts there.

So, yes, in essence another self-help blog. What can I say? and really, what can you expect in 2010, anyway?
Self-help is where it’s at. Help yourself first, get out of your own way and out into your world.

And it’s not all new-agey, green, pseudo eco-chic, locavore, organic goodness by the way. Sometimes all these words are not all they are cracked up to be and we’ll check out why.

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